You Make Me (Love) Sick
by karithekarbear
Summary: Contact with your soulmate allows you to feel their emotions and hear their thoughts. Cool, right? But if you go too long without touching your soulmate, you get lovesick. Emma and Regina touch. Eventual SQ ending. Regina doesn't know what's happening for a little while but once she does, she's in denial. Rated K for now, might change later.


You Make Me (Love) Sick

When Emma and Regina first touched, it was brief. A light brushing of one's fingers over the other's. Regina felt a tiny spark when it happened, but convinced herself it was just her imagination. She spent the next couple of days thinking she was starting to get the flu. She made sure Henry was taking vitamins and drinking a ton of orange juice to prevent him becoming sick as well, and she was furious at whoever had infected her.

The second time they touched, it was after explosives had failed to open the mine Henry and Archie were trapped in. Regina was yelling at the explosives technicians, and quickly descending into a panic. Emma touched her elbow to get her attention and for a split second, she felt calm.

The third and fourth touches came after Henry and Archie had been saved. Emma gently touched Regina's back as she approached her and Henry, and Regina felt elation and relief. Then she pushed Emma's hands away from Henry and she instantly felt annoyance and disappointment. Regina brushed all three instances off, telling herself it was just her mixed emotions over everything that happened that day. When she started to feel sick again she chalked it up to being by the mines, and the dust cloud from the explosives.

The next time they touched, it was when Graham and Emma broke into her vault. Regina clocked Emma on the jaw, and Emma returned the punch, then shoved Regina up against the outer wall of her vault. All Regina could concentrate on was the rage, but she didn't realize it was compounded by Emma's. This time when Regina started to feel sick again, she began to have an inkling of what was actually happening. She spent a few hours wondering who the Hell was supposedly her "soulmate". It wasn't long before she had her answer.

When she and Emma touched again, the door to her office was blown off and part of the stair railing landed on her ankle. Emma told her to get up, but it hurt too badly. "I can't, my ankle. You have to get me out," she said, grabbing onto Emma's hand for support to try and stand. In that moment, she felt Emma's hesitation. Emma pulled her hand away and jumped down the stairs, and Regina felt fear crawl up her throat. She grabbed Emma's arm. "You're going to leave me, aren't you?" Her voice was thick with panic, and once again she felt Emma's hesitation.

Emma ripped her arm away and ran out the doorway, and Regina thought she was done for. She tried to crawl back up the stairs but before she'd gone a few feet Emma returned, spraying a fire extinguisher to clear the path. Then she was by Regina's side, helping her stand and wrapping an arm around her waist, helping her hobble outside. As soon as Emma wrapped her arm around her waist, Regina knew. She could hear what Emma was thinking when she saved her, that Henry would never forgive Regina's death, and that it was the right thing to do. She was incredulous.

_**Emma**_ was her soulmate? Impossible. It had to be someone else that was giving her love sickness. So she started a process of elimination. The first person she tested was Sydney. Touching him did not alleviate her symptoms, which didn't surprise her. If she hadn't fallen for him by now it would never happen. The next person she crossed off was Kathryn. She didn't initiate contact but as soon as Kathryn hugged her she half hoped that it could at least be someone she was sort of friends with, but Kathryn's touch didn't help either. The next person she initiated contact with was David. She figured it was probably a stupid notion, but sometimes Fate was weird.

As she crossed people off her list her symptoms gradually worsened. She was starting to come to terms with the fact that her realization that Emma was her soulmate was true. Regina balked at the revelation. So when she coerced Jefferson into helping her, it wasn't just because she wanted Henry to herself. It was because she was terrified of loving again. And with Snow's daughter? She couldn't-wouldn't-entertain the thought. When Emma came to say she was leaving town, Regina was relieved. But with Emma's conditions, she knew the possibility of falling for her was still there. So she gave her the turnover with the sleeping curse apple baked into it, and thought that was the end of it. When the hospital called her an hour later saying Henry was there, she was worried, but had no clue what was in store for her.

As soon as she arrived, Emma snarled, "You did this!" She dragged Regina into the storage room and threw her into a rack of shelves. Regina was confused and furious, all she wanted was to get to Henry and check on him. "Stop this, my son-" Emma shoved her up against the lockers and put an arm against her throat, holding her wrist in one hand. "Is sick because of you!" Emma shouted. "That apple turnover you gave me-he ate it!" Regina felt her heart stop and her stomach plummeted. "_**What?**_ It was meant for you!" "It's true, isn't it?" Emma questioned. "What are you talking about?" _**"It's true, isn't it?! All of it." **_

She felt Emma's anger boiling over, so she dropped the facade, thumped her head back against the lockers and answered truthfully. "Yes." "I was leaving town, why couldn't you just leave things alone?" Emma asked, her voice wavering. "Because as long as you're alive, Henry will never be mine!" Emma's anger flared again and she seethed, "He will never be anyone's unless you fix this. You wake him up!" Regina's voice cracked as she answered hysterically, "I can't!" She could feel panic creeping over her. "Don't you have magic?" She shook her head sadly. "That was the last of it." She knocked Emma's hands away and said angrily, "It was supposed to put you to sleep!"

Emma looked worried. "What's it gonna do to him?" Regina breathed heavily for a moment. "I don't know. Magic here is-unpredictable." Emma's voice trembled and tears filled her eyes. "So he-so he could-" Regina's eyes closed and she sighed heavily before she answered. "Yes…." Her son could die as a result of her pettiness and fear. Emma breathed shakily. "So what do we do?" Regina sighed. "We need help. There's one other person in this town who knows about this. Who knows about magic." "Mr. Gold," Emma said, the conclusion coming easily to her. "Actually, he goes by Rumplestiltskin."

After the curse broke, Regina thought it was over. She had made so many people in the town suffer, she figured it wouldn't be long before they came for her head. And while she was correct in this assumption, she didn't expect Emma to be the one to save her. In truth, she hadn't expected anyone to save her. Yet Emma had been there, right when Regina needed her. But it wasn't long before her life was endangered again, this time by something that couldn't be stopped by sheer force. Rumplestiltskin had marked her, and a wraith was coming to take her soul.

When it came, Regina stood. She was terrified, but she had accepted her fate. There was nothing that could save her now. The wraith began to suck away her soul, and it was the worst thing she had ever felt. Emma, Snow, and David arrived. David distracted the wraith for a moment but was thrown against the file cabinets and the wraith resumed its task. Snow grabbed an aerosol can and a lighter and blasted the wraith with fire. It fled through the window and Regina collapsed.

Emma ran over to her and asked, "What the hell was that thing?" "A wraith," she gasped as Emma helped her up. "A soul sucker." Snow interjected. "Did I-" "Kill it? No, it's regenerating. It'll be back," she answered. Her voice trembled as she continued. "It doesn't stop until it devours its prey. Me," she said, holding up her hand to show the mark. "So, how _**do**_ we kill it?" Regina sighed. "There's no way. Can't kill something that's already dead." "Then we have a problem," Emma stated. "No, we don't. Regina does," David said. "What?" "David?" Snow questioned. "You wanna let her die?" Emma asked. "Why not? Then it goes away, then we're safe," he replied. "That's quite the example you're setting for your daughter, there," Regina spat. "No, you don't get to judge us," he snapped. "Let me ask you something, where do you think that thing came from?! Gold." "I made a promise to Henry," Emma interrupted. "She's not dying."

They made preparations to send the wraith through a portal. Jefferson's hat would create the portal, provided Regina could get it to work. They set up in the main floor of the mayor's office, and she began her attempts to open the portal. She was growing frustrated and more frightened as the minutes passed. When the wraith arrived and she was still having trouble, she figured this would be the end. Snow and David were keeping it at bay with their torches, but those wouldn't delay it for long.

"What is the problem?" Emma asked her, sounding frustrated but also worried. "My magic. It's different here," Regina replied, exasperated. Emma bent down and grasped her arm, and suddenly the portal opened. Her jaw dropped and she glanced at the blonde. Any doubts she had washed away in an instant. Emma really was her soulmate. She shook her head. She would deal with that after the wraith was gone. While she was distracted, the wraith came for her. "Regina!" Emma yelled, shoving her out of the way. She was knocked to the floor and turned back to see the wraith grasp Emma's ankle and drag her through the portal. She didn't even have time to think before Snow jumped in after her, and the portal was gone.


End file.
